Running BitThief

Windows

Mac OS X

Download the tgz-file from the download page, decompress it and run the enclosed
application (“BitThief.app”).

Linux/Unix

Download the tgz-file from the download page, decompress it and use the enclosed
starter script (“BitThief”). You can do that by opening a shell prompt, changing into the BitThief directory and
running the script as follows:

./BitThief &

Jar File

If you want to run the jar file directly, you can download it from the download page,
change into the enclosing directory and enter the following in a command prompt:

java -Xmx512m -jar BitThief.jar

Configuration

The following global settings are available:

Limit Connection Number — Sets the maximum number of TCP connections that BitThief will maintain.

Use Tit-for-tat Protocol — Sets the default for the torrent specific option of whether to use the Tit-for-tat protocol or not.

Upload Statistics — Allows BitThief to transmit download statistics to our webserver. No personal data
or information about the downloaded files is transmitted. Enabling this option will help us doing our research.

Check For Update — If enabled, BitThief will check for a new version on startup.

These options are specific to a single torrent download:

Upload Data — If unchecked, BitThief will not upload any data to other peers. If checked, BitThief will behave like any other BitTorrent client.